(CCM) Sometimes a simple, straight ahead message hits best. That's often what quality country music hangs its hat on, and that's what honky tonk rock n' rollers Sparkle Carcass continues to do on their brand new single, "Rainy Day Head."
Kicking things off with a damp acoustic guitar, the song soon lights up with a Skynyrd-meets-Stones electric guitar riff along with a honky tonk shuffle, setting the tone for this barroom jukebox number. With a little "Dead Flowers"-type energy, the track is a bonafide sing-along, and harnesses that sticky quality that doesn't leave your head.
The accentuating steel guitar helps whisk the listener away to a land of longing to fix past mistakes, and a nostalgia for less complicated times. "Been livin' on water and bread / It's a rainy day / It's a rainy day in my head," lead singer and songwriter Cody Palmer sings with conviction.
Reflecting back on his early days as a wide-eyed and eager new resident of The Windy City certain life was going to fall right into place, Palmer soon got a healthy gut punch of reality - it's a god damn rat race out there.
Palmer would find a gig DJing weddings on Thursdays to Sundays, and since Mondays were dedicated to errands and adulting, he spent Tuesdays and Wednesdays daydreaming and writing songs. "Not many folks were looking to hang out on those days, so I'd often lay on the floor, stare up at the ceiling, and listen to records or write and just kill time until the next gig," he states.
"'Rainy Day Head' got written on one of those Tuesdays or Wednesdays when naturally it was downpouring outside, and I was probably bummed out about some bad date I'd been on. And having just enough money to get by, but living in this weird nightlife music world that was so far removed from what most people would call 'normal,' and just struggling to connect with people that didn't live in that world with me. It was a weird time, but it ended up producing some songs that I really love playing to this day, so it seems like it worked out in the end."
What gives Sparkle Carcass an extra shine, is that Palmer's wife - Reilly Downes - is also a member of the band, and a notable solo artist in her own right. Together, the pair share a honky tonk love story ripe for making music from the heart.
"Rainy Day Head" is the band's second single leading up to the release of their upcoming sophomore album, Maraschino Chevy, due out October 17th, 2025. The band has their album release show November 14th at The Hideout in Chicago.
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